Local and General News

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 87, 21 January 1892, Page 2

Local and General News

At the Primitive Methodist Conference, held at Christchurch, the Eev. Mr Lyon was appointed to the Manawatu Circuit. Mr E. Wakefieia, late of the Wellington Press, is hying in America, and is said to have become quite Americanised. Mr Bray, engineer, returned from his trip to the Hot Lake 3 on Tuesday afternoon. He appears much benefitted by the change, Preparatory to making extensive alterations and additions to their premises in Palmerston North, Messrs Ross and Sandford, of the Bon Marche", are holding a genuine clearing sale of all goods now in stock, for three weeks. To-morrow will be observed as a general holiday in the proymcial district of Wellington. Locally there will be the Kiwitea Sports, and a rifle match at tho butts between the Palmerston and Manchester Rifles, while sports will find ample opportunities for enjoyment at the Foxton Races. The neatest muzzle for a drover's dog to preyent it biting sheep, is a spur put in its mouth and made fast behind the head with the leather strap. We saw two dogs so caparisoned yesterday morning and thoy seemed to enjoy the novelty of the position without being inconvenienced. We (N.Z. Times) have the authority of the Government for slating that all reports which have yet got into priut relating to proposed appointments to the Legislative Council are absolutely without foundation, and that they recommend the public to attach not the slightest import ance to them. Under the Factories Act now in force employers are chniged fees according to the number of hands they find work for. One employer m Christchurch, wheu sending in a cheque for two guineas for registration, wrote that he forwarded it us a penalty feo for finding employment for a certain number of hands. Mr Janning- 0 , wh> will open tho Ready Money Store in tho course of a few days, has a preliminary advertisement in today, to which we direct the attention of our readers. Mr Jannings has had a large experience in Feilding, and as ho has many friends in the town and district he is certain to receive a fair share of public support. The Wellington Cup this year will be a trophy worth winning. It is now on yiew at the manufacturers, Mr S. Eohn's. It is in the form of a water- jug, with lid, and is of a particularly graceful and chaste design. It is made of solid silver and gold lined. The weight is nearly 100 ozs. and Mr Kohu states it ia the heaviest piece of silverware yet manufactured in the colony.— Post. A rumour was circulated in Wellington to the effect that Mr Duthie, M.H.R., who is at present on a visit to England, had tendered his resignation as one of the members for Wellington. On enquiry, howeyei 1 , we (N.Z. Times) find that the report is absolutely without foundation. In his last letter from Home Mr Duthie staled that lie intended to return to New Zealand early in April, so as to be in time for the next session of Parliament. Lqujjes and gentlemen, who intend to give theivisefv*?!? the pleasure of seeing Mr Grattan Lti'sgs ou Thursday next in in tho 'Irish Detective/ are reminded that the performance is advertised to commence at 8 o'clock. On the last occasion tl)is talented company played here, the comiuGiweraent of the performance was delayed fully twen£y-Svo minutes by unpunctual people coming in lajte. A3 there will he somewhat of a crush on Thursday we hope thJ3 hint will not be thrown awoj,

The Banks will be closed to-morrow. Parliament has been further prorogued until 31st March. Mrs Peter Thomson has sent us a ' sample of the Nelson apricots just received. They are of delicious flavor. We are glad to learn that the Bey. W. Harris, who was seriously injured a few days ago by being thrown from his horse, is makmg steady progress towards complete recovery. The rental yaluations of the Borough have been increased by about .£llsO. This will mean £50 a year more revenue after making allowances for probable reductions by the Assessment Court. It was whispered in town to day that a friendly mill, with the gloves en, for £25 a-side, was to take place this afternoon within the precincts of the borough, between two " blokes" from a neighboring village. Buyers and vendors are particularly requested to note that Messrs Stevens and Gorton's next sale at Feilding will be held on Wednesday, instead of Thursday, on account of the ram fair to be held at Palmerston on the last named day. We are informed that serious attacks of diptheria occurred at Foxton yesterday in the families of Messrs Owen and Walsh. The parents engaged a special train to convey Dr Rockstrow from Palmerston to attend the sufferers. — Manawatu Times. Mr E. R. Martin has bored to a depth of 80 feet on Mr James Knight's property at Oampbelltown without reaching water. It is expected that it will be struck very shortly. Subscriptions are now being collected for sinking a well in the square at Campbelltown. An express train, with over a thousand sheep on board, passed through Palmerston from Hawke's Bay and on to Hunter. Tille last night. The sheep are some of the finest in Hawko's Bay, and have been purchased by Mr Holden, of Feildmg. — Standard. Sixtyasix thousand men, women, and children form the population of Iceland . All these good people are now in a state of great excitement through having a murder to deal with, the first to occur among them for the past fiftysix years. A young man killed his sweetheart. The Ashurst Band will not be able to play at the Palmerston Athletic Sports on Friday owing to the difficulty experienced in getting the members together. Mr Kelleher received a wire from the Marton Band offering to play for £1% but this offer has not been closed with pending an answer from Feilding. — Manawatu Times. The sovereignty of the Isle of Man was purchased by Parliament from the Dukes of Athole, having been previously be» stowed Upon the Stanley family. The price was £70,000. In the present century £417,000 were paid for all the landed property and other rights, including ecclesiastical patronage, which the Athole family had until then retained, An auxiliary branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union was formed at Palmerston North last week, when the following ladies were elected officers: — President, Mrs J. Butters; Secretary, Miss E. E. Dillon ; Treasurer, Mrs Smith. Miss Dalrymple, of Feilding, has been appointed District Superintendent of Franchise for Wellington. — Post. Steps are being taken in Melbourne to found an Institute of Journalists for Australia, modelled on the lines of the successful Institute of Journalists in England. The latter possesses a royal charter, and one of the efforts of the Australian Institute will be to secure the extension ot that charter to the colonies, with all the privileges and benefits such a royal recognition confers. The Woodville Examiner of Tuesday last, informs us that the search for missing stock in that neighborhood has revealed a branding yard in an isolated spot in the Mangahao Valley. Many stock have been missed in the district, and it is supposed they have been rebranded here and sold again. This information should be of value to farmers in this district who have been losing stock. The final selection for a team io represent Palmerston North Eifles in the match against the Manchester Kifles at Feilding ou Friday was made on Tuesday, the following members being chosen : Col. Sergeant Eelf, Privates Aydon, Wadsworth, Kells, Woods, Meyrick, Pooch, Strudwick, Hancock, Corporal Richardson, and Bugler Hyde. Emergencies — Corporal Tanner and Private Bogan. The team leave Palmerston by tho 7 a.m. train.— Standard. During " the good old times " in Scotland no fewer than three thousand four hundred women were burned for witchcraft. Some of them were mercifully strangled before being burned, but the majority were burned alive. A respite for the poor creatures, who were being judicially murdered, was secured by Oliver Cromwell. A curious fact was that while it was perfectly well-known that witchcraft was practised by persons of quality, there was a kind of tacit contract between the nobles and the clergy that the charge should never be brought against a person of position. Verily these were " good times " with a vengeance. A big crop of old maids seems imminent, judging from statistics. If the statistics of Great Britain are correct, the excess of women and girls over men and boys in that country is about 900,---000, an increase in ten years ofabou' 200,000. In Germany the females in excess of males is about 1,000,000. In Sweden and Norway the " weaker sex' 1 is in the majority by about 250,000 ; in Austro* Hungary by 600,000. nnd in Dei mark by 60,000. ' In the United States, Canada and Australia the males are in the majority. In America there are about 1,000,000 more men than women. A meeting of the Athletic Sports Committee was held on Tuesday night. The protest against Norton, the winner of the 440 yds Handicap was considered and dismissed as frivolous and the deposit de. clared forfeited. It waa decided that only trophies should be given for the Bicycle Race, none of the winners having drawn the money prizes, they being members of of the Amateur Association. The financial results were shown to be very satisfactory, the committee being able to carry forward about £50 for next season. A vote of thanks was passed to the Wanganui Amateurs for their kind, and valuable assistance, and it was resolved to forward them a cheque for half the profits of the entertainments. Some other formal work was done and the committee adjourned sine die. In his recent speech to his constituents at tho Thames, the Native Minister said he had in view the purchase of the whole Piako Block for settlement purposes. In the course of his address to the natives at Kauaeranga that day he had placed tho whole matter plainly before them, and shown the manifest advantages that would aocrue to themselves and Europeans alike by soiling or leasing their lands for settlement purposes, instead of permitting them to romain in tho virgin state. The block contained 250,000 acres, and required drainage, tho cost of which would, ho believed, amount to protty woll £1 per acre, but if the Auckland peoplo would devoto their attontioir to this and throw thoir influence into tho matter jnstead pf the Main Trunk Line, what a valuable asset they would have at their doors.— Post. 11 A drink for the gods," so said the great Prophet — Mahomet, when taking his cup of coffee under the fig tree. If you would enjoy such, Crease's AI Coffee, Sold o'fllj in 1 and 21b tins.

The first post'Diorlem, for the Coroner by a lady doctor in Australia, was per formed by Miss Constance Stone, MD. at Meibourne last month. The friends of William Henry South* wood, who disappeared on Mount Esmont in April last, are advertising a reward for the recoyery of his body. A Government Land Sale 13 advertised to-day. Tho several blocks are detailed in the notice. Application must be made at the Pahiatua County Council office, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Wellington, on February 4th, for the blocks under the Village Homestead Special Settlemont conditions. An auction will bo held at Pahiatua on the sth February. Plans, etc. may be obtuined at the Post office. Frozen rabbits are not inviting to look at (writes a London correspondent), but this drawback notwithstanding, the New Zealand importation is coming into favor in the lower quarters of London on ao v count of the low prices (6d to 7d) per carcase. As boiled rabbit and pork is n favorite alternative to beef and mutton with the working classes, and the prices of Belgian and English " bunnies" rule high just now, the frozen rabbits sell pretty rapidly. The little island of St. Helena is almost, if not quite, the first Crown colony to overcome the reluctance ot the Colonial Office to a divorce law. There is now by proclamation, by and with the consent of Her Majesty in Council, instituted in this small Atlantic island a court for divorce and matrimonial causes, wherein any of Her Majesty's subjects may file a petition for the small sum of 2s, and for a grand total of less than 80s in the Court fees, may go through all the various stages of a suitfor dissolution of marriage, down to the pronouncement of the degree absolute. Sir Edwin Arnold, who has just entered upon a reading tour in the United States, hns been giving the public the benefit of hi* views on Theosophy. He says that he had sren many things which could not be explained, and he credits both Colonel Olcott and Mrs Besant with sincerity. He believes with St. Paul, that things seen are temporal, and tilings which are unseen are eternal. A great part of the globe, he says, is composed of elements which cannot be seen, and. be* lieving the study of the invisible to bens legitimate as the study of the visible, he is inclined to admit that there are crcat possibilities on the lines of that study. An English paper says: — "If it be true, as stated by one ffho should know in the ' Surrey Times ' of this week, that a prominent reason for Lord Onslow's resignation of the Governorship of New Zealand is the hopelessly unsanitary condition of Wellington, the capital of the colony, Lord Salisbury may find it difficult to secure a desirable successor. An incident related by Lord Onslow himself illustrates another of the vicissitudes of official life in the colony. The Governor's party was journeying on horseback through the South Island, and one night put up at an inn kept by an old Dutch woman. In the morning one of the guests complained that he had caught a mouse in his bed. ' Well, I'm sure I've done my best,' was the old lady's assur« ing reply, ' for I took seven mice out of your bed just before you went up.' " The mouse has never been regarded with an eye of favour by the gardener, and certainly the mischief it does is more apparent than any benefit it confers as a general rule. But it would seem that the mouse is distinctly useful on occasion, as the following addressed to an English contemporary sufficiently proves :— " I was much surprised to see a mouse yes terday clearing the scale from a peach tree trained against a wall under glass. It was very active, and during the ten minutes I watched it must have eaten 200 of these pests. It was too bus? to notice me, though I stood opposite and within a few 'feet. It would run over and under the smallest twig, and fixing its hind feet for support would run its nose along the midrib of the underside of every leaf, and race up and down the stem, searching for and devouring its prey without a second's pause. I left it as busy as I found it." Ablution of the whole body is most essential to health and lightsomeness. A man or boy whose skin is not in good working order cannot be said to live ; he only exists. Nor can his blood be vure, for the skin lias to carry off from the blood a vast amount of impurity which, if retained, dulls the mind, blunts tlie faculties, throws extra strain ou tlie liver, and creates all kinds of mischief. Therefore, I advise you to tub every morning, You do not require to remain more than a minute in the bath but you must have a good big sponge, sluish the head and face before you go in, then the legs, standing, then sit down and sluish the whole body from each shoulder. Now jump up, nnd dry with one towel and rub down with another. Well, after a bath like thin you are set up for the day. No fear of catching cold after that. As to seabathing, it is invaluable if you can get it. But this cold morning bath is the real tonic*